HTC’s Statement Regarding CIQ Data Collection

You may recall a few days ago, we published an article about a HTC service present in the new OTA for the EVO 3D, which basically collected information regarding usage, location, and certain information about your device. Well, to all of you who believe that HTC is oblivious to our work here at XDA, well, they are not. They are very much aware of who we are and what we do, and believe it or not, are actually thankful to us despite everything that has transpired over the last few years.

Officials from HTC have replied to the concern regarding data and privacy security and has assured us that all the information that they obtain is nothing more than information for their “Tell HTC Customer Service App” and that all the data being sent is securely encrypted.

“We’ve seen some questions about Sensation and Evo 3D and want to provide more information. HTC, like most manufacturers, has an opt-in error reporting function built in to our devices. If your phone experiences an error, you have the option of “Telling HTC” so we can make improvements to our phones. Details about this are in our privacy policy on each device and in order for data to be collected, you have to opt-in. If you do opt-in, we protect your privacy by de-identifing and encrypting the data.

HTC is committed to protecting your privacy and that means a commitment to clear opt-in/opt-out as the standard for collecting any information we need to serve you better.”

HTC is indeed making leaps and bounds in attempts to get us back on their side, and by listening to customer demands and concerns, more specifically ours, we can see a paradigm shift in the way their business structure is moving. Sure, they may have released incomplete sources for kernels and shipped out locked devices, but they are working towards accommodating the needs and wants of their biggest customer base…. us. Changes will not occur from one day to the next, but the shift in direction and reaching out to the community like this is certainly a good indication that they are indeed aware of the problems and attempting to fix their past mistakes as well. Thank you for listening, HTC.

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